Purple and Gold Chronicles

[PointGuard]

Thank you for commenting, zike_42. Madness, yes, but you have to be a little crazy sometimes. Hopefully there will be someone worthwhile in the class. Who knows what the RNG gods will make of history?

Yeah, and who knows, Kareem might want to give up playing basketball entirely to become a big movie star in "Airplane!" so tough luck to the Pistons.

[The Purple Emperor]

The ink was bright black, like a fresh death. I wanted to rip the paper in half. That should have been my story, not his.

Culling The Lakers Mystique
by Jake Naveen
The moon is new, and so are the Lakers after the team shockingly dealt away the greatest player in the game, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, for two first round picks. That this marked a partial rescinding of the earlier trade that brought M.L. Carr to Los Angeles means that in essence, Kareem and the Lakers' 2nd round pick was traded for M.L. Carr, Leon Douglas, Detroit's 1979 1st and 2nd round picks. There's selling for ten cents on the dollar and then there's this - a free charity giveaway to the Motor City.

This is a travesty of the highest order. Kareem should have stayed in purple and gold until his twilight, and now the all-too brief time he had with us will now be eclipsed by the spectre of a younger, far less talented squad. It will take years for us to see a breaking dawn, and the darkness has me howling with rage. Remember, it's just a handful of games into the season and the Lakers made a major move in bringing in Carr. From my own basketball days at Syracuse, I can tell you when you make that big a move, it takes time for the team to gel and the players to adapt - especially when it's a player of Carr's caliber, who represents a major shakeup of the lineup.

I'm told that assistant GM Ed Culling was the one who orchestrated the move. He is now my mortal enemy. To engage in such short-sightedness is to ruin a lot of careers and break a lot of fans' hearts. Now we all need to watch the Lakers listlessly go through the rest of the season and hope the lottery gods smile upon us. Culling has sucked the life out of the Lakers, and there's nothing, nothing sparkling about the squad now. The only way this trade will work is if the team's pick turns into the likes of Bernard King or Jack Sikma, and then only if those college superstars prove to be NBA stars in their own right.

***End Excerpt***

Personally, I thought it a bit extreme to call someone a mortal enemy over one bad trade, but what did I know? As to why Jake got the assignment over me... Oscar said I still wasn't 100% after I got back, so he put me to work covering high school basketball. High school basketball. High school. You don't care about that, and neither did I. It also cut off all chances I had of going to New York. Not that it mattered. Mishell still hadn't written me.

The rest of November passed in a blur - filled with the stink, acne, and basketball of high school gymnasiums; the vodka sweats and belches of dive bars; the growing laundry and dust of my apartment in which I stared at my glowing TV. Much to my anguish, the next game was in New York against the Knicks. Though it was foolish, I spent most of the game searching the crowd for Mishell. Naturally, I couldn't find her. The Lakers overcame a slow start to fight back in the second half and steal their second straight stunning victory after utilizing a curious lineup of Lucius Allen/Dwight Lamar/Earl Tatum/M.L. Carr/Kermit Washington in extended spurts. M.L. Carr scored 23 and we got a lot of contributions from the bench.

Balanced scoring, keyed by Don Chaney's 16 bench points, led to a third straight win, the easiest of the year, at home vs Denver. One thing I noticed is that the team became more aggressive from the 3 point line without Kareem. I thought sure the surreal run would end at the Pacers, but no - it was the first true blowout of the year - a 115-98 rout engineered by Don Chaney and Kermit Washington teeing off for 21 points each, Washington adding 9 boards besides. And then there was M.L. Carr swiping the ball 7 times. I just didn't understand this team at all, or the fact we flattened a powerhouse on their own turf. Maybe dealing Kareem was addition by subtraction?

Next, a road trip to the lowly Jazz. Down by 20 in the first half as only M.L. Carr's 17 points were doing anything, Lucius Allen suddenly erupted in the second 20, finishing with 25 points and 14 assists, and the bench mob alive with Cazzie Russell's 23 points and surprise Cornell Warner somehow finding a 16 point, 10 rebound double-double, and incredibly, another comeback win. Just who was this team? The miracle finally ran out against of juice against Portland, as was to be expected. Then a blowout loss at Oklahoma City, which saw Cornell Warner starting over Leon Douglas at center. Gritty defense and 28 points from Cazzie Russell sparked an ugly win vs Golden State, as M.L. Carr had a one game injury.

And then in the final game of the month, a 20 point lead went right out the window as the Lakers fell to the Kings in the last minute of play, wasting Lucius Allen's 13 points, 11 assists and Kermit Washington's 26 points. Ron Boone singlehandledly torched us for 43 points.

So there the Lakers sat, 9-5, still just a game out of the Pacific lead. Meanwhile, at 8-9, Detroit barely hung on to the 8th seed over Milwaukee in the West.

But I didn't really pay much attention. I was still on the high school beat.

More importantly, finally came the contact I'd been waiting for.

[The Purple Emperor]

"Mykell,

Now that I'm situated, I thought I would write. I found the cutest apartment a few subway stops from the office, and the job has been everything I hoped it would be. My first article should be in January's issue. I'll let you see what it is. The cold of the City is hard to get used to after Los Angeles. While it's fun to shop for new clothes, I find myself longing for sunlight and warmth. On the other hand, there's so much to do, and everything is so compact. Not like sprawling LA. I'm jumping all over the place here, I know.

It's ironic, isn't it? We're both writers, but suddenly I'm at a loss as to what to write you. If I tell you of my daily life, my experiences in this densely packed, teeming mass of humanity, you become more distant. And I hate that. I hate that we're not in the same space, sharing the same life. It isn't you; it's me. I can't handle remote love. I know you said you would come with me, but you hate this kind of weather and need space to roam. Remember when you've told me about New York before? How you felt claustrophobic even a night there? It would kill you, just as Seattle's oppressive rain would make me hate life. You couldn't do that to me, and I can't do that to you.

I miss you. Every night I'm seized with the urge to call you, or to fly back and run into your arms. But that would just make all of this far more difficult, and it's hard enough as it is. I don't know... maybe something in the future will happen that we can be back together again. But until then, go! Go and meet other people. Let yourself be open to them. Don't wait for me. Please. I can't promise anything, no matter how much I want to.

I love you still, and I always will, but this is the way things need to be. If you feel like writing back, you obviously have my address now, and my phone number is 212-555-1624.

Mishell"

...Well, she still used our names. But as for the rest of it...

I had no idea what to respond, and I wasn't sure that I should call her immediately. So I let it simmer while I pondered what to do. The one thing I knew I wouldn't do - there was no way in hell I was going to see other women. Forget that. I wasn't going to hurt other girls, knowing my heart was still totally and completely hers.

In Lakers news, the Bucks blew them off the court in LA, and a last second heroic 3 point shot by Lucius Allen led to a comeback 1 point win over the Spurs. 25 points, 10 assists, 3 steals for Mr. Allen; 24 for M.L. Carr. 12 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals for Don Ford off the bench as well. The team just wouldn't stop winning and enter the tank mode.

I developed migraines about this time. Mishell, the Lakers, everything in this muddled quagmire of tedium.

[JMD]

Kareem seems to beam with gleam as he is with another team!

[The Purple Emperor]

Thank you for commenting, zike_42. Madness, yes, but you have to be a little crazy sometimes. Hopefully there will be someone worthwhile in the class. Who knows what the RNG gods will make of history?

Yeah, and who knows, Kareem might want to give up playing basketball entirely to become a big movie star in "Airplane!" so tough luck to the Pistons.

It could happen. One never knows.

Kareem seems to beam with gleam as he is with another team!

It will be interesting seeing what happens when Bob Lanier comes back from injury.

[The Purple Emperor]

If you would have told me before the season began that Cornell Warner would ever be Player of the Game, I would have thought you were dropping acid. And yet that's exactly what happened in a box-to-wire victory over the Bullets. He shot them for 18 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks, in the same game that Lucius Allen garnered another double-double of 13 points, 10 assists. And yet, the very next game, Leon Douglas was back in the starting center spot.

Three straight losses later - to Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, the team was 11-9. Although I still hadn't been put back on the Lakers beat, because I was mailing it in with my high school articles, Ed called me privately to tell me everyone on the team with the exception of M.L. Carr and Leon Douglas had been put on the trading block. The front office was in the mood to blow up and rebuild. It was also about this time, two weeks before Christmas, that Mishell wrote to tell me she was coming back for Christmas with the family. "Obviously it'd be too weird for you to go with me to Christmas dinner, but I still want to see you." Like I was going to say no to that. I myself had no holiday plans. My parents wanted me to visit them in Minnesota, but I didn't want to go by myself, and I knew she wouldn't go for it. Still, I probably should, I thought. I'd never hear the end of it from my mother if I didn't.

22 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals from M.L. Carr and a 17 point, 14 rebound, 2 steal double-double from Leon Douglas allowed the Lakers to spank the Warriors on the road to finally snap the losing streak. Ironically, Golden State offered their 2nd rounder for Earl Tatum the day before, which got laughed out of the room. A few days later, a 2 point win over Cleveland, M.L. Carr again leading the way with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 steals. Then a stunning upset vs Portland, a team balanced effort that saw M.L. Carr win his third straight Player of the Game award.

A 30 point blowout loss to the Spurs, and it was time for me to go to Minnesota. Mishell was planning on visiting LA until after the New Year, so I would be flying back home on the 29th. That would be enough to make my parents happy, and I would still have time with her. Time to maybe change her mind after all.